Sunday Special with Nate Smith, Mike Benz, Mike Lee, and Michael Knowles 11/24/24

Get ready to hear the truth about America on a show that's not immune to the facts with your host, Dan Bongino. Welcome to Sunday Podcast. This is our chance to play for you some of the best moments from the radio show and some great interviews during the week that you may have missed. If you ever want to check out our show, go to Bongino.com.

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First up today, we talked with country music superstar, our good friend Nate Smith about the music industry, how much he loves the country, and $5 water? This is Jim's idea. You're not going to want to miss this in.

Man, I've been dying to get this interview going forever. This guy is such a good, good dude, man. And you know how it's hard to find good people. It really is like good friends. There's just so few of them, especially in a business like this where someone's always like selling you something or, you know, they want something for me. It's such a good guy. He is a

just destroying the country music charts right now. You know he is. You've heard his new song Bulletproof. You haven't. You need to go download it right away. Download the whole album California goal. Want to welcome the show a good man country music artist and hopefully very, very, very good friend of mine, right? My man Nate Smith. Hey, Nate. Welcome to the show, brother. Good to have you. What's up, Dan? That was quite the intro, bro. I appreciate you so much.

Man, you deserve it. You know, so I told the story in the beginning. We're in Houston, right? I get to the concert early. You're opening up for Morgan Wild. I know, you know, I don't get to listen to a lot of music and it's about two years ago, I guess, right? And you're up on the stage and I'm there with Paula.

And you're the opening act there. And man, you're tearing it up, brother. I look at the cat next to me. I'm like, who the hell is this guy on stage? Nate's up there. He's like, a few months ago, I was driving now. I'm here talking to him. He's singing in front of 40,000 people. I never heard such passion. I wanted a radio and talked about it.

And he said, that's Nate Smith, man. And I just relived that moment for me where you go from this life where you're busting your butt, you're struggling, you're a young artist trying to get ahead, and then you're opening up for Morgan Wallam. What is that like, brother?

Man, it is absolutely unreal. It's so hard to really put it into words, but I mean, like, you know, I spent my whole life just kind of backing up a little bit, working in hospitals. So my, my whole plan was to be a registered nurse. So I was a, what they call a CNA, a certified nurse assistant. Um, and I worked in care homes, hospitals, ICU, neuro trauma, all these things. And that's what I was passionate about was taking care of people and something that I really love doing. And kind of long story short, my, my hometown of paradise,

ended up catching on fire and sort of like we lost our whole town pretty much it was pretty pretty bad in 2018 and had to start over and a friend of mine was kind enough to send me a guitar in the mail because I lost mine and started writing songs again and for a different reason and

Seeing people get in touch by this music was so special to me. So it really kind of got me going again, I guess. And then my friends were like, what if we send you back to Nashville for the second time? Because I already did it one time before when I was 23 and a little older now. And it didn't work out so good. But they were like, let's do a GoFundMe, send it back to Nashville. And I got in my car and I slept in my car many, many nights.

on the road moving here and then essentially I paid my rent, my car payment and I was down to $14 in my checking account and didn't really have a backup plan. Anyway, so what happened was I ended up somehow signing a publishing deal with Sony and getting a record deal a year and a half later and

just kind of i'm at three number one's right now it's just it's mind-blowing that i can't even really describe to you what it would it would it's like but it's just cool that i'm i'm making songs that are making an impact on people in america and trying to trying to be involved you know

You know, we're talking to country music artists, it's blowing up the charts right now, Nate Smith, and just a really, really wonderful guy, man. We're talking about a patriot who loves this country. His new album is called California Gold, Banjino Army. I don't ask you a lot, man. Everybody go and download it. I promise you, you'll thank me later.

It is an amazing album. You know, in an album, you get one or two good ones, not this one. It's just banger, after banger, after banger. So Nate, I ask everyone we have on the show in the country music business, I ask them this question. When did you know, like, damn, we made it. Like, are you sitting in a car and a taxi and your song comes on? Morgan, reach out to you and say, I want you to open up, like, when do you say to yourself,

This is it. We've crossed the red line. This is really cool, man. When was that moment for you?

Dan, I can remember it crystal clear, man. I was sitting in a hotel room, uh, I think on the, the East coast. I was sitting in there and I saw one of those water bottles that said $5 if you, if you drink this thing and I went, you know what? I can do that today. I'm going to drink water and I chugged it, man. I chugged it. I didn't feel bad. I didn't feel bad at all. I don't know. You ever really arrived?

Wait, that is the most relatable story you're ever gonna tell because Nate I've I still do that like I'm in hotel rooms now and listen we're me and you were we were you know We were working steps man. I know what that's like to go five. I'm paying oh five dollars for no avian Water when I I'm gonna drink from the sink and I still to this day on my damn

Five dollar water. I said, we've all had that experience, brother. That is so relatable. But Nate, when did, so you're sitting there and you're like, wow, like I did this song. You're, you know, it hits you there. When do you get the call from Morgan? Morgan's one of the, I mean, him, Taylor Swift, probably pretty much dominate, you know, the music culture now. When do you get that call where he says, Hey,

I want you to open up for me a concert. You must have been like, wow, now we're really there. I mean, we're like, we're performing in front of biggest crowds in the world.

We just like hey, man, you know, I just recently had signed with a booking agency called Neil agency and they have Morgan that got Hardy Ernest a bunch of people they got Bailey Zimmerman good friend of mine And they basically like after I signed there like Morgan just texted me like nay, you know, I'm a big fan of your music and you know Would you consider would you consider coming on the road with me? I'm like are you joke consider like of course. I'll be there bro You know that's amazing

We're talking to Nate Smith. The album is called California Gold. Folks, listen, I don't vouch for a lot of people because a lot of people let me down. This guy and one of them, this guy is a, I'm a, I'm a, I hope I'm speaking, I turn this one, I tell a quick search and we go to the concert not that long ago in Charlotte and, you know, Nate's performance. I don't want to bother the guy and I just buy tickets like any. I'm sitting there in a pit and Nate's performing. He's, he's crushing it. Bulletproof is on, which is my,

My favorite Nate Smith, so it's everyone else's too, because it's like one of the most popular country songs in the cosmos right now. So I wish I could tell you I had something unique, but it's in this case, it's good. It's not bulletproof, it's an amazing song. And he sees me, gives me the little head nod, and he shoots me a text. He's like, you know, hey, bro, you want to come back after the show and like say, hello, you know, they have a little trailer back there.

I didn't want to bother him because I had a bunch of people with me. He's like, no, don't worry about it. Like bring your daughter, bring your wife. And a guy could not have been nicer, folks. You're going to take a picture, give him my daughter, autograph hats. And my daughter had a friend with her. So I'm like, hey, would you mind what? Oh, yeah, no problem. What's your name? Like this dude is the genuine article. And Nate, I want you to know like that really meant a lot. But let me ask you this. So bulletproof, right? Bulletproof's been taken over. It's just like rocketing up the charts. Like, do you feel now?

You're not performing in the smaller venues anymore. And as an artist, I think everybody likes to kind of behind the scenes take. It's got to be a little different. You do lose a little bit of intimacy when you're in these kind of small bars and you're struggling, but now you're in big stadiums. How do you still keep the fire, man, and keep it personal? You know what I'm saying?

totally you know it's kind of funny i'm actually it's weird i mean that that that face of my career work one day i'm playing a stadium the next day i'm doing like a two thousand cap club some kind of all over the place a little bit so i get best of both worlds right now which is really awesome and

You know any chance I I do like the smaller venues still so much because of just the routing it and the honky-tonk feel and stuff So I think we're in a cool spot right now with besides the venue that we're at they're pretty loud I'm just having a blast. I mean, I don't know if you know this or not But I'm a very shy person believe it or not in an introvert and I was for a long time I would close my eyes the whole time I was saying I was too afraid to look at people I couldn't make eye contact with anybody and The best part of the show it's like we're doing this thing together

brother. You're a, listen, I go to a lot of concerts now a lot. I see a lot of people and you, you really, you connect different. I mean, you, you and Bailey, you know, Morgan obviously is, you know, the guy, right, but you and Bailey really got a gift, man. I think the dream team is when you and Bailey open up with Morgan. Those are

of concerts. I'm like, I'm definitely going and I like, I send Jeff attacks. I'm like, Jeff, you got to hook me up, man. I need help on this one because you guys just tear it up. But for my audience out, again, they always love a little like behind the scenes on this stuff. You know, most of us don't know what it's like to be, you know, big country music starting some, you know, what we do. But what's life on the road like? I mean, that's it's got to be tough. I mean, I guess you're you're you're living out of your, your tour bus a lot.

And it's got to be tough. You know, I mean, how do you sleep on that thing? I struggle really bad. So, uh, on the, on the road, I mean, there's a, I had a little back bedroom. It's kind of a bedroom, but it's, it's so loud and bumpy during the road. So I usually will sleep in like the bunks. I kind of like the bunks. They're a little quieter. Um, and they're in the middle of the, the bus and everything. But yeah, it's a struggle, dude. And I mean, you're constantly, you're, you're getting up and you're going, you know, you've got like a day full of interviews and day full of different things.

But the big thing for me is when I have my downtime, I completely unplugged. I've had this whole week off, been a little under the weather, but just completely unplugged and just recharge, man. So when I get back out there, I have something to give. I really feel like as an artist, personally, I'm not just in the entertainment industry, I'm in the service industry.

I'm there to serve. I'm there to bring songs that can touch lives. I'm there to love my neighbor, everybody I meet, to hug them and give them everything I got. I don't want them to ever feel lacked.

Yeah, Nate, I know, I know you're really passionate about the country too. I mean, I hear the way you talk about it. We absolutely love this place. You don't hide it at all. You are a patriot through and through. And I know my audience really appreciates that too. You make a point to, you know, mention it in your social, like you really, you know, this is the greatest country on earth. There's no mystery there.

It sure is, man. It sure is. And I'm really happy with the way things are going now. And I just feel like we're really stepping into a beautiful time, a beautiful era. And I'm so proud to be an American. And honestly, my story is like an American story. Starting from $14, and I'm playing stadiums and all this stuff. It just shows that anything's truly possible in this country, man.

Nate, we love you, brother. Banjino Army. Again, I don't ask you guys and ladies for a lot, but I need a favor, man. Give me a solid. You all go and download this man's album, Nate Smith. He's a good man. He's a patriot. The album is amazing. I promise you'll thank me for it later. It's called California Gold.

California gold and make sure if you don't download but you stream Make sure you go to Spotify like hot country and click the like button on Nate songs You got bulletproof fix where you didn't break just amazing songs. This guy is really talented And I promise you this guy is the real deal what a genuinely nice guy Nate Smith what an honor to have you on the show by the way This is an open invitation. You ever want to come back my buddy. I'm already getting feedback my audience loves you You come on anytime you want my brother, right?

just want to say thank you so much for having me thanks for being a great friend and and then uh... all of band army wheel i love you guys thank you for all the support and for downloading the music you guys are amazing thank you so much brother uh... you're the best uh... nay smith accent we appreciate what a great guy folks i told you that guys the real deal man and uh... those those those people hard to find you may ask yourself to

You know, damn, why don't we have more interviews like that? You want to know why? Jim will tell you why. The reason is a lot of people are fakes and phonies and we told you, we're not doing any squishes on the show. We're not. Listen, I don't need you to share my political beliefs on stuff on every single thing I don't, but I need you to love the country and be the real deal. And this guy is, man. And that's why I'm asking you for a solid Nate Smith, California gold is the album. Check it out. Coming up next, another great interview, but let's hear from our next sponsor.

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Up next, we talk to deep state specialist Mike Ben's. No one breaks it down better than him. Listen to him about the perils of international censorship and how it actually works coming up here.

You know, one of the characteristics of smart, smart people over stupid smart people is if you're a smart, smart person, you know the outer perimeter of your fence of knowledge, and you go and get other people who are smart, smart people in other spaces to fill in those spots for you, those blind spots in your knowledge and your Dewey decimal system, your library of knowledge, right? And when I need some insight on the deep state,

and some expertise. This is the premier guy to go to. He was with us on Election 90s at Mike Ben's Cyber on X. You should follow him. Subscribe to his platforms there. It's amazing. Mike Ben's. Welcome back to the show. Good to have you. Great to talk to you, Dan.

Mike, whenever we need some insight on the deep state, we go to you. I just wanted you to comment on this first. Some of the nominees for President Trump's soon to be administration. It appears that the deep state, the bureaucracies, the NGOs at profit off of censorship and collectivism, socialism, style governance, were really panicked. Obviously forced gates out, he has left today, but we've still got a few hitters in there. We've got people in there like Ratcliffe and others who know where the bodies are buried, I think.

What's your take on this? Because people are policy. You and I know that. I wish policy were policy, but it isn't. People are policy. And these are the kind of people that even if you disagree with them, could shake up these deep state bureaucracies. You're exactly right. You know, the Gates bombshell today of him dropping out is, I think it sends kind of a shockwave into the security of other picks that are currently staffing

the cabinet ranks are at least set to between Tulsi, Bobby Kennedy, as you mentioned, Ratcliffe, Higgsath at DOD. All of these, I think,

there's going to be a similar type of campaign that will be waged to varying degrees between them i mean if if folks remember it was it was only twenty four hours ago that a hacker hack into the private communications of matt gates's lawyers and then leaked that to the new york times in order to orchestrate this batch that that we apparently are seeing today there's only two ways that you can be a hacker in this country you can be a felon or a fed

That is the only people who are authorized to do that sort of hacking and are able to get away with it from this Justice Department is if you work for the CIA, the NSA, or the FBI, all other means of electronic hacking are felonies. So how did this hacker, who was this hacker who hacked the lawyers of Matt Gaetz on the eve of this announcement?

that that i think is an open question that is going to go to the heart of all the other national security related the fact is is one of the things they're most afraid of with mac gates is that the entire national security division of the justice department contains and is the holder of all secrets of the intelligence community folks can look up right now mary mccord from the obama buying justice department

Talking about how all things related to prosecutions of in the intelligence world effectively require the consent and constant interplay of the IC and the Justice Department, which means the Justice Department head has to be totally on board the blob agenda. This is how they got. This is why Bill Barr and Merrick Garland and Eric Holder and all these others are the sort of legacy AG picks and Matt Gates is a massive outlier to that.

But, you know, one of the things I'm most concerned about is that I don't think Marco Rubio, for example, has anything to worry about with his nomination passing through. You know, I've mentioned HEGSAS, Ratcliffe, Tulsi, and Bobby Kennedy all likely experiencing a significant amount of turbulence on the way to Senate confirmation

If they get there, I don't think Marco Rubio is going to have any problem whatsoever sailing through because his network is essentially the exact network who has been trying to Trump-proof Donald Trump's presidency in the run-up to Donald Trump's victory. So I don't know what kind of back-channel conversations are happening between Trump and his donors, between Trump and Congress, that

You know, that allowed such a pivotal position to freedom on the internet, as well as the entirety of US foreign policy to be to be run through Rubio. But that is something that I have quite a critical eye on.

Yeah, I mean, you know, the role in when he was in the Senate on the collusion hoax and not stopping that earlier has always been pretty disturbing to me. I've that's been my one, you know, big betting are there. It really bothered me the entire time. We're talking to Mike Benz. He's at Mike Ben's cyber on X. I strongly encourage you to follow him. If you're concerned about the deep state, if you love it, he's not your guy.

Mike, the fight against censorship is the fight right now. If we can't speak, we can't wage a political battle because it's not a battle. It's a one sided asymmetric war where they're shooting at us and we're completely disarmed. But we can't deny the fact, as you know, that the left and this blob of deep status has been very, very effective over the last few years.

Do you think we're starting to turn the corner on this though? I don't want to say who, what company, but I've run into a few major companies at events and green rooms and you know, you know, they are, but you know, I don't want to, they asked me to stay quiet, quiet about it. But they're even starting to say to me that a lot of the pressure campaigns they felt before, they're there, but they're dissipating in kind of intensity and a lot of even the left wing woke boards are starting to say like, yeah, man, this whole D.E.I. crap.

You know, it's really not worth the time and energy anymore. Are you sensing this deep state censorship complex losing its power a little bit? I hope you say yes, I'll be devastated if you say no. Well, you're absolutely right. Yes, in terms of short term. But there's a recoil on this rattlesnake that is going to be springing back

with poisonous fangs over the next six to 12 months and I'll tell you exactly how that's going to happen because we've been here before. Donald Trump won the 2016 election because of freedom of speech on the internet. Trump did not get a single legacy newspaper endorsement in the entire country in 2016.

Even David Brock, the political hatchet job black ops magician for the DNC just a week before Trump was inaugurated in January 2017 did this big post-mortem with 120 major tech execs and financiers and Soros types.

blaming the free and open internet for Donald Trump's election. And not only did Trump win the presidency, but Republicans won the House. Republicans won the Senate. Republicans got to put their Supreme Court picks in. So it was like you could not have a more favorable deck in terms of the political setup. But the fact was, is the entire censorship industry was constructed within the United States right under Trump's nose in that case because of shadow diplomacy abroad.

and back channeling with these organizations of an international nature. I mean, I can tell you exactly how it happened. Basically, as soon as Trump won the election in 2016, you have the out of power Hillary Clinton State Department and John Kerry State Department diplomatic corps take their special set of skills of working with European regulators and Brazilian regulators and officials and Australian and Central and Eastern Europe.

And they got one by one all these countries to pass these international laws that restricted the ability to post on social media if you were a populist. It started with this German law in 2017 called Netz DG, which required for compliance with it, mandatory AI censorship technology that would scan and ban

every keyword that was deemed by the German government to be problematic because it was a proxy for populism. They explicitly, the shadow diplomacy that was done between the out of power faction, the blob here in the US, with the German government is the reason that these were all implemented at Facebook and YouTube.

and twitch and discord and all that the entire internet in the first place for continuity with global markets because they didn't want to lose access to europe that then tilted into what is now the uk online harms bill in the u.s. and the anti misinformation law in brazil and now the entire you wide digital services act.

that is a mark my words they are not going away on this anytime soon they are going to do a bifurcated strategy that involves using state laws like what we just saw in michigan with this new misinformation law that just came out of the michigan state senate and like they've been like they've been doing in california and and illinois and new york where they have these mandatory media literacy laws now

that effectively prohibit access to or the ability to cite alternative news. You can only read Blob Media there now if you're in public school.

So they're going to balkanize the U.S. at the state level in terms of the rules of the road for the internet. And then they are going to work with their international partners. The U.K. Labor Party figures extremely heavily in this. Care Starmer is the test tube baby born in a lab, freak mutant of NATO. Andrew Stroke, Rasmussen, the former NATO head, made a special project to get Care Starmer to replace Jeremy Corbyn there in the U.K.

and the UK Labor Party has taken that incredible power that they have and has metastasized a censorship capacity partially funded by the US, I should note. For example, their scan and ban technology for the Metropolitan Police in London is funded by the US Justice Department so that they have a real-time heat map of every Tommy Robinson supporter and every Nigel Farage reporter and what they post online. That's literally funded by the US Justice Department.

They are going to work with the UK and Europe and South America and Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia to make sure that every ally of Trump on the international stage is now allowed to rise to power and they're going to try to make it untroffable through these global revenue fines like the EU threatens to impose to bankrupt X unless they censor Trump supporters at home.

Mike, I got a hard two minutes left, but it is the Trump administration. Do you think that they know this to fight against the DSA and these European censorship laws? And are they willing to go to the mat and say, listen, you do this to our companies. You got some heavy tariffs coming and we're going, we're going to economic war over this. Do you think they know that? I know a lot of you know a lot of people in the transition team. Do they have a sense of what's going on? They willing to take it on? They've heard this. They've been briefed on it. When they're told of it, they remember it.

But the rubber is going to hit the road at the State Department, which is why I come back to Marco Rubio. The State Department, even though only is $35 billion in funding every year. It's not one of the most heavily funded ones. It is the orchestra director of the entire panoply of U.S. soft power projection. And all this censorship work

comes out of state so marco rubio is going to need to be the one leaving the crusade the carrots and sticks thrown are offered at europe to fight back the bsa he's going to need to coordinate u s eight and being enthusiastic cheerleader to make sure that u s eight is on board u s agency for global media also serves uh... serves the state department rubio is going to need iron fist with them you rubio is going to need iron fist with all the n g o's and the university centers who are wrapped up in this

We are going to need strong armed diplomacy in order to threaten to fundamentally renegotiate our posture with things like NATO and the EU and humanitarian assistance and treaties and trade agreements in order to fight this thing back, which is why we need a real soldier in there. And my concern is that Rubio comes from the camp who orchestrated all of this. Rubio is a board member of the International Republican Institute, which has been spearheading these international censorship laws,

uh... the he's promoted the the iri beacon project he won a man of the year award from the uh... from the iri which is one of the worst censorship organizations just this year so his whole career has been funded and and pushed by the same forces he now needs to take on so there's going to be a nice in someone's back at the end of the day here it's going to be the friends that have helped marco rubio around along the way or it's going to be the president of the united states and time will tell on that

Jim, is this guy like a library or what? Mike, you are really, you are like a human computer with the deep state. It's like amazing how you just boom, boom, you fire this stuff out. Get that on the weekend interview show. We got it. Let's record that after the break. Mike Bens, follow him. He's on exit at Mike Bens, B-E-N-Z cyber. You heard it. You're missing out on a PhD level course in the deep state without this guy. Mike, thanks so much for spending some time with us. You're welcome back anytime. We love having you. Thanks a lot.

Thanks, Dan, Tuxon. You got it. Guys, seriously, he's like the dewy decimal system of the deep state. I'm serious. I wrote four books, like four actual books on the deep state, and every time he comes on, I learn something new. Incredible. Gosh, that was a good thing.

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Senator Mike Lee came on to talk about the upcoming spending bill and the chances of appointments. President Trump, uh, them getting through and getting confirmed here. What they're trying to do with this budget. This is really bad. Check this out.

You know, we don't do a lot of guests on the show. One segment per show a couple of times a week. Lately, we've had a few more though because it's really important to understand the limits of our own knowledge. I'm not in the United States Senate. I'm out here on the radio trying to move the needle politically for the guys who are. But one of the good guys up there, regular guests on the show is Senator Mike Lee from Utah, an avid constitutionalist and a good friend. Senator Lee, thanks for spending some time with us. We really appreciate it. Thank you, Dan. It's a pleasure to be with you.

Oh, always good to talk you. But before I get to the nominees, there's something you've been focusing on. You are again an avid constitutionalist and you have been upset for years since the Tea Party Revolution when you came in about the bloated grotesque government budget. You've been warning people that they're trying to push through an end of the year's spending bill.

uh... that's gonna basically blow up the budget even more before the new republicans senate house and presidency as a chance where do we stand on that is it going to go through and why are my why are not hearing more about this from other republicans but it shouldn't go through we shouldn't be doing it it's a terrible idea one of the dumbest things that we could do after being entrusted with the voters with this rear rare somewhat unique blessing

of having both houses of Congress and the White House under Republican control next year. One of the dumbest things we could do after being given that advantage would be to perpetuate Biden spending levels and Biden spending priorities while the Senate and the White House are still under the control of the Democrats

to move them forward through the end of fiscal year twenty twenty five i think would be a dereliction of duty i think it would be a real breach of trust with our voters so i certainly hope not how i take great courage in the fact that house speaker mike johnson has said that that is not what he wants that he's not going to push that he is not going to allow it for my i understand what he wants is instead a shorter term spending package that will take us into

uh... march uh... next year allowing us to reset the clock with trump priorities and trump spending levels talking to senator mike lee from utah certainly one of the good guys senator lee i have particularly excited is a lot of great stuff going on you and i both seen it obviously the victory the taking back of the senate holding the house all good stuff we get that but i'm particularly excited about the potential for the e-line musk vivic rama swami led doge department of government efficiency

Given the recent Chevron ruling that basically dumps Chevron deference, basically saying the law is the law, you don't get to interpret the law to spend more money. I mean, I'm oversimplifying, but I think we can both agree it's generally the point of it. Elon and Vivek have a very rare opportunity right here to advise OMB and get rid of a number of these crazy regulations that have authorized some of this spending and you'd be really hard to get them back because now you would need actual legislation because you don't have Chevron.

This could be a really big deal and an inflection point for our soon to be bankrupt government. Yes, no, that's exactly right. That would be a good thing. And as to the Chevron deference point, you know, I've never been a big fan of celebration penalties in football. I think the better way of approaching it would be if somebody celebrates early celebrates when there's no cause for celebration. And I think sometimes people excessively celebrate the demise of Chevron deference. It's good that we got rid of it.

but it's not the end not even the beginning of the and at most it's the end of the beginning off getting rid of chevron deference did was to say that the courts are no longer in the give this undo amount of deference to an agency's own interpretation of a statute is charged with administering it still leaves the underlying problem fully intact and that's the problem we've got a turn to next the underlying problem is that congress since the nineteen thirties has been delegating copious uh... bouts of legislative authority lawmaking power

to unelected unaccountable bureaucrats will pass a law saying we shall have good law in area x and we're here by delegate to department why the power to make it in force good law that is lawless it violates both the letter and the spirit of article one sections one and seven and uh... we've got to get back to the point where congress makes the law because only congress is empowered to make the law under the constitution

The best way of doing that, I believe, is for Congress to pass the RAINZACs, REIMS stands for regulations from the executive and need of scrutiny. And what it says is that any time there's a new, generally applicable federal rule that is tantamount to a law, that Congress has to affirmatively enact it and submit it to the president for his signature or veto before it can take effect.

We've been talking, you've been on the show before about the rain side, critically important. It's the only way we're going to get this bureaucracy under control. Senator Lee, you're in the Senate, obviously. You have a better take on it than we do. We hear from a lot of people. However, I think the voters are a little bit upset.

I'm going to rephrase that a lot a bit upset because they feel like this was a Trump election that it was his coattails that unquestionably dragged quite a few senators across the finish line. It may not be there. So the voters feel like, well, we kind of gave you a Senate majority because we believe in the MAGA agenda. Now, they're not dumb. They understand the advice and consent role of the Senate.

However, unless there's some documented verifiable reason, charges, convictions, and things like that, President Trump obviously has a reason for selecting people like Pete Hagg Seth and Matt Gaetz and others. We've seen some softening from the moderate, I'd call kind of rhino wing of the Senate. However, what's your take on you? You're not part of that.

By the way, but however what's your take on the Senate feel for some of the more and I use the air quotes your controversial nominees because that's what the left saying not us like Gates Gabbard and Pete Hagg said that their respective rules As you point out Dan some of the initial Chatter has calmed down a little bit following those announcements. I think Some people reacted a little bit too quickly But look at the end of the day we have to remember that President Trump

should be accorded at least the same amount of difference that Joe Biden was accorded. Accorded by many including a number of Republicans. In other words, Joe Biden got his Attorney General pick. Donald Trump should be able to get his. And if people are worried about any particular nominee, whether it's Matt Gaetz or Pete has yet or somebody else, they're worried about whether they're confirmable, whether there is some reason why they shouldn't be confirmable. It's why we have a review process. We have committees.

Those committees have hearings. And so I'm looking forward to the hearing that we're going to have for Matt Gaetz and the Judiciary Committee on which I sit. The Armed Services Committee will have a hearing on Pete Hesgep and so on and so forth with the other committees and the other appointments. Look forward to those. We'll be having those in January as I understand it. We can do those before President Trump sworn in so that we're ready to get them confirmed. But we ought to do this with an eye toward presumptively.

Confirming them. We ought to do them, but especially as Republicans. With a night towards day, President Trump ought to have his pick. If something comes up that makes them untenable, then we'll address that at the time, but that's what the committee process is for.

well i agree we're talking to senator mike lee from utah uh... senator i i think you'd agree be in a kind of outspoken uh... critic of seven oh two government spying fives a spying bloated governments uh... again you're you're probably the most you and ran paul you know ten crews are probably the most uh... you know avid constitutionalist i know in the senate

You know, they failed us on 702 spying last time. The FBI is out of control. And I think it's time that President Trump is given some deference on this. You know, we were just talking about that before, but actual deference, because I think he understands that we need some kind of door kickers this time. We need people willing to break stuff because we're broken now. And the only way to fix it is going to be to glue this thing back together the right way.

And picking a lot of old school kind of establishment types and not willing to go out there and stir the pot a little bit, you're just going to get the same result. You know, we're just going to get the same failure. And I think that's how my listeners feel. I get a lot of feedback from them. Dan, I couldn't agree more. And that's why we've got to get reformers in there. And each of these positions that touch features like Fiza 702.

where we've seen so much abuse by the FBI and somewhere else where, but a lot of the FBI of the authorities under FISA 702. We cannot do this the same way we've done in the past. It'd be a grave disservice not only to President Trump and to those close to him who, like him, have at times become the victim of abuse of these types of authorities. But the American people in whole, we'd be doing a grave disservice to all of them to just pick somebody

who's going to perpetuate that same problem. President Trump wants and frankly deserves genuine reformers who will go in there, figure out where the problems are, and pull the problem out by the roots, making sure that it doesn't happen again.

You know, it was about a year ago when we were having a robust debate over the need for FISA 702 reform. I had dropped war out my ex-accounts on my, uh, ad face. I remember talking about all the reasons why it was so bad what we ended up adopting because what we ended up adopting was a series of fake reforms. It was a, it was a fig leaf and we need real reforms this time. And I think that starts with personnel and needs to culminate with legislation.

Well, I love you're at based Mike Lee account. Jim and I get a kick out of it. We, we like you and based John Roberts over at Fox based John Roberts has been tearing it up too. But based Mike Lee is a must follow Twitter account. You were all over 702. We appreciate it. It was an issue mattered a lot to me. We had speaker Johnson on the radio about it. He came on. We had a pretty fiery debate about it, but I, I, the first amendment means what it says. And I'm just, uh,

I'm just really, really upset at the way that whole thing went down. Let me ask a question I get a lot from the audience and I know you'll explain it better than I do. How can we move legislation via reconciliation? You know, we obviously still have the filibuster, which the Democrats want to get rid of. Now they love it again, of course, the 60 vote threshold.

Uh, how, what can we do by reconciliation? Yeah, the Trump tax cuts. Obviously we did that last time, but what else can we do? Or is the entire Trump agenda going to be stymied because we're not going to, we only have 53. We're going to be a vote shy.

Yes, I'm so glad you asked about this. Reconciliation, of course, is shorthand for a term known as budget reconciliation, or allowed under certain limited circumstances to bypass the 60-vote closure standard, the filibuster standard, for which most substantive legislation must pass. The important thing to remember with budget reconciliation is that you've got to find something that is primarily budgetary.

budgetary and it's not overwhelmed by the policy implications of it. We've learned over the years how to draft things so as to make them potentially reconcilable. We're looking forward to a very aggressive debate and discussion about what we put in there. I would like to see a lot of things that we know we're going to have to do at least one reconciliation package that will deal with the extension of the Trump era tax cuts from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. But I believe that we

are actually going to need to do two reconciliation bills probably in 2025. And the other one is going to need to include a lot of things, including funding for things like border security, including some very aggressive regulatory reform, which could and I believe should include at least as many elements of the RAINZ Act as we can move in there. Anything that we can identify as firm

budgetary connection with uh... that has a decent chance of being put in there and uh... what we're working on those priorities right now a lot of research is going into it as we speak mike uh... senator mike lee last question for you let you know uh... another question we get from a listeners all the time they are absolutely adamantly we've got a cleanup this broken election system what are the chances of getting a uh... a voter reform bill things like voter id for federal elections uh... what's the atmosphere upon capital hill in the appetite for that

Okay. The appetite for it has been strong. It's been made stronger by what we've seen in this election year. Remember, Dan, it was just a few months ago when I came on your show to talk about the need for the Save Act. The Save Act is billed and I introduced in the Senate. Chip Roy's got it in the House. Very simple set of requirements. It says if you're voting in a federal election in order to do that, you must upon registering show some type of proof of citizenship. This is not onerous. This is

that the same type of proof in fact it's easier uh... under the say back to do that what everyone has to do anytime they start a new job you've got to fill up the i9 form and and uh... produce proof of citizenship you ought to produce some sort of citizenship proof when you register vote in a federal election and i believe that the democrats acted in bad faith and opposing that they blocked it they wouldn't let it move forward because they said it was unnecessary because

insisted over and over again non-citizens don't vote well how do you know that well because they can't vote what do you mean well because federal law currently prohibited yet but federal law makes it almost impossible to enforce and they never answered the question they just doubled back down on saying non-citizens don't vote

We've now found so many instances of non-citizen voting. It's going to be impossible for them to deny that. So we've got to use that same enthusiasm in the next Congress to get this thing passed. While we're at it, I think we ought to slap on some other requirements if you're voting in a federal election.

you also want to have to produce some sort of photo ID as you're casting your photo so that you can't cheat while we're at that i think we ought to consider having a national election day rather than the election season i don't know vote chatting that goes on in late November is called fraud you are you would make my audience's day if those three things went through senator ran over a little bit but it's always a pleasure and honor to have you senator mike lee from utah thanks so much for your time sir we appreciate pleasure smart thanks so much then

You got it. That is the band. We fit a lot in there, Jim. Voter ID. FBI 702 budget. Reconciliation. Tax cuts. That was stacked.

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So head on over to shop B E A M dot com slash Bongino for up to 50% off that shop beam dot com slash Bongino for up to 50% off. Michael Knowles has his own show. He's from the Daily Wire. He joined us to talk about the fallout from the election and what we can do to look forward to January, what we can do in the meantime. So check this out.

man i love this guy such a talented host in his own right he works over at the daily wire with a got a great crew his shows incredible uh... my uh... my wife and my crew of his show as well uh... his name is michael knolls he's been on the show before you should check them out michael knolls uh... like no l-e-s great show uh... michael thanks for coming back to the show really appreciate your time then always a pleasure to be with you especially during this very celebratory couple weeks

It's been amazing and you're one of the few, I don't really have a ton of time. I'm usually put together my own show, but you're one of the few shows I do listen to and take the time to listen to because it's really terrific and because I think you have a very kind of sober analysis of what's going on. I think you're one of these guys who understands the political trench warfare that this isn't like a tender dating contest with these people. A large majority of America, including every single swing state, just voted for Donald Trump and his judgment about the direction of America.

You know, we're not trying to like date these guys, right? Like Tulsi Gabbard or Hagg Seth or we're looking for people to enact the Trump agenda and measuring by the response of liberal heads exploding. I think he's got a plan here and I'm on board.

Absolutely, Dan, the picks have been excellent so far. Trump is obviously coming right out the gate moving very quickly because President Trump recognizes this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reset the relationship between citizen and the federal government.

Obviously, there's this new department, the whimsically named Doge, led by Elon and Vivek, that endeavors now in Elon's words to cut some 329 federal agencies with overlapping responsibilities and a ton of waste.

So that's very exciting. And then on the flip side of it, I think this mandate also offers President Trump an opportunity, once in a generation at least, to redefine the relationship between the citizen and the press. You think that Kamala Harris lost this election? You think Joe Biden lost this election?

I think some of the biggest losers in this election were the New York Times and the Washington Post and CNN and MSNBC and the desiccated old dishonest media that have even admitted that new media are the future. It's the podcast election according to the Washington Post, and I think President Trump could capitalize on that and fundamentally change the way that the press wields its corrupt power in this country.

We're talking to Michael Knowles. He has his own show, the Michael Knowles Show. I strongly encourage you to check it out. It's worth your time. It's one of the few on my shelf. They say there's a shelf, the podcast shelf. Everybody has one. It's like five shows, max or so. You're, you're on mine. Michael, you just, you just said something there and kind of sparked my interest that, you know, I love the parallel economy and the free speech ecosystem. But I know when you first started doing this and when I did, when I say this, I mean podcasting free at the radio show for a minute.

But everybody laughed. Matter of fact, when I started my podcast in 2015, I remember someone saying to me, what happened? You couldn't get a radio show? Well, now I have both, which is kind of funny. But everybody laughed and I thought it was really stupid. But I think guys like you and me who were kind of first movers, the old business school first mover advantage, we understood that

Podcasting is different than radio or cable TV. I love them all. I've done them all. I had a cable TV show as well, but you know better than anyone. It is an a la carte on demand exercise. So if someone goes to Spotify and hits play on the Michael Knowles show, they want to be there. They had to do a volitional act to hitting play. It wasn't forced on them in an airport. It wasn't the only cable news host on that night. They did it on purpose. So when you get 100, 200,000 people tuning into the Knowles show,

That's a dedicated audience that can make things happen, man. It's the concentrated interest, diffuse cause theory. That's a concentrated interest. That is such an insightful point because it shows you, and this is something that President Trump has done in spades over the last eight or nine years now, it shows you that a communicator can have a really close, intimate relationship with an audience.

because the audience has to go out there every day and choose to listen. And so that means that you need to have credibility. It means that you need to have integrity. It means you need to call it like you see it and be a real person. This is why the Joe Rogan interview with President Trump for two hours or three hours over long it was was so much more captivating than some canned television interview that President Trump could give. Because you were seeing the real man in a free-flowing conversation, weaving as he used to say.

And so now, you know, I look in 2024 after the American people, the vast majority of the American people actually, including the popular vote, gave President Trump this mandate. I'm looking around the White House press room, and I'm asking myself, why is CNN in the front row? I'm asking myself, why does MSNBC have a seat at all, really? MSNBC might be sold for parts in a month. CNN had 13.3 million viewers in prime time in 2016. They have something like 800,000 now.

And there's two reasons for that. One, it's just technology changes as you point out. You saw it happening. You were an early adopter. And so who's laughing now? People would laugh at you then. But who's laughing now? You're at the forefront of media. But the other reason is

that the CNN and the New York Times especially and Washington Post and the rest of them have really tarnished their credibility. I look at the New York Times. The New York Times called President Trump a liar. They ran a so-called fact check. The President Trump said that FEMA was discriminating against Trump supporters during the Hurricane Helene cleanup. And then what happened? Daily wire obtained documents from FEMA proved that FEMA was discriminated

And then the supervisor who was fired came out and said actually was happening during Helene too. So I look at that and I say, I have to ask myself, if I'm in the White House press office, why does the New York Times have a press pass at all with that kind of lack of credibility and with that kind of waning influence?

Why doesn't a representative for Joe Rogan have a seat in the press room? Why doesn't Tim cast or Dan Bongino? Or who, you know, it would be nice to see Dan Bongino in an even bitter role in the White House, but why doesn't the White House press strategy reflect the way media actually exists today?

Yeah, brother, I agree with you 100%. I mean, why is it? Why doesn't you get a daily wire seat, daily caller, Breitbart, you know, Megan Kelly's operate. I mean, like you said, Rogan, Tim Poole, another one with a massive audience.

You know, Charlie Kirk has his own enterprise over there. You know, the difference between us and them, Michael, us and them being the New York Times, Washington Post and this liberal media ecosystem out there is we've been right. I mean, not about everything, but our track record batting average in this sport of politics is probably 7,800.

But seriously, it's about 100. I mean, every major story they got wrong, the collusion hoax, the Hunter laptop, the spy gate thing. I mean, everything from the Nikki Haley drapes story, Mike Flynn with the Russian context. I mean, nothing they said was correct. And I think that's why Gutfeld pointed out on the five last night, like the media, if they don't have this sister soldier moment soon, where they ripped the Band-Aid off and just start telling the truth this passionately, they're not going to have an audience left. There's not much there.

Well, Dan, I'm not saying it just because I'm talking to you, you just mentioned the Spygate story. But think about this. Think about 10 years ago, you asked, okay, who's more likely to get the details of a major news story correct? The New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, the entire establishment media, or a former Secret Service agent. One guy with a podcast and a radio show, who's more likely to get it correct? And there's no question, you got that correct. And so at a certain point, it's like Lucy with the football.

How many times are we going to keep waiting for the establishment media to correct themselves? I just don't see any reason to do that. You know, the White House press office, it's not as though that began under George Washington or something. It's a relatively recent creation. It's changed over the years. The purpose of it is to communicate what's going on at the White House to the people and also to get serious questions from the media. But I think the majority of the American voters showed us in this election.

that they don't believe the New York Times, they don't believe the Washington Post. Across demographic groups, across the Rust Belt and the Sun Belt, they've turned to something that is different. We've complained for years that the press is really at the vanguard of a corrosive and corrupt system.

well i i think that the reason they're running scared right now the reason you're hearing about the view trying to add it finally approach rump voice the reason that msnbc might be on the chopping block is because finally technology and the voters have caught up to them and they really have no where to turn

Yeah, I was shocked to see that. The view looking for a pro-Trump boy. You know who they'll pick, right? They'll pick some like ridiculous like, well, John Bolton's our new, whatever, man, like me, but we don't want swampy's. We want actual people who understand the Trump movement. I want to get your opinion on this, talking to Michael Knowles. He has his own show, the Michael Knowles show. Check it out. It's definitely worth your time.

I've said forever that, listen, Trump ran a pretty standard conservative presidency the first time, and I don't mean that as an insult. I just ask people to go back and look, we had tax cuts, a good thing, Abraham Accords, great thing, some pretty good judicial appointments, not just at the Supreme Court level, but circuit appeals, you know, a couple of turkeys here and there, but that happens. But a lot of good things happen, regulatory reform, but pretty standard conservatism stuff, right? Anchor conservatism stuff.

I think his lasting gift to this party has been his

is unexplainable to me ability, because I don't get if I could, I'd bottle it and sell it to other politicians, to break through and give us the first racially depolarized election. His ability to break through to, you know, Mexican voters, Ecuadorian voters, I hate the term Hispanic, because they're so Colombian voters, Dominican voters, Puerto Rican voters, Black voters, Jamaican voters. It did racially depolarize despite the onslaught of false allegations of racism

I'm telling you, man, is going to be this guy's last thing gift if the Republican party doesn't blow it. Yes. If the Republican party doesn't throw at every lesson that this guy has taught, you're the bad decade. This really could be lasting because the popular vote should not matter. As a matter of the law, that's not how we elect presidents, but it does matter.

And the reason it matters is that after President Trump's landslide, there is no argument they can make. They can't say that it was undemocratic. The majority of voters voted for Trump. They can't say that Trump appealed to white supremacists. You're telling me one in five black guys is a white supremacist, 46% of Hispanics? You can't even tell me he's appealing to sexism. Trump won the majority of married women, and he won 40% of women under 30, according to AP exit polls.

So the breadth of this coalition was so impressive. And it's because President Trump, you mentioned a kind of standard Republican administration and how Trump is mixing that up now. Trump understands that politics is the art of inclusion. It's the art of the possible. It's the art of the second best. And so you can bring in people who have really divergent views.

If you put them in the right place, he would joke on the campaign trail. He said, we love Bobby Kennedy. We love him on health. We love him on big pharma. We love him on food. We all love him on energy. We're going to put someone else in charge of energy. We all want him getting rid of oil and natural gas. And so he's putting Kennedy in the right space. You think of the vague Rama Swami.

Vivek so unbelievably talented, great that he's part of this coalition. Now, Vivek disagrees with some of the Trump advisers on tariffs. Okay, where are you going to put Vivek? You're going to put him over there with Elon, cutting that red tape, tearing up those government agencies, doing what he does best.

Trump really knows how to cast, you know. I mean, he was a top TV producer and talent for a dozen years. And so I think, to your point, getting back to the beginning, Dan, these appointments have been good, not just for the people that Trump is putting up, but I think he's really putting them in their proper place.

talking to Michael Knowles, Michael, and unfortunately I got a rum, but you just, you know, you brought up another interesting point. I'm going to probably readdress after the break. I love all the ridiculous accusations against Trump too that is a loyalty test. Yeah, there is a loyalty test. His agenda, not to him, the people because I only bring this up because the people you just mentioned, they have one thing in common to our listening audience. What do Vivek Rama Swami

RFK Marco Rubio and Tulsi Gabbard all have in common. They all ran against Trump. Either is Democrats independence or it's a that's some freaking loyalty test bro loyalty test. Here's a few people you just you mentioned those names and in my head I'm thinking this is such a brilliant point.

because he landed that plane. Perfect. Don't tell me there's a loyalty. There's a loyalty test to the freaking agenda. Just be honest about it, you know, and I know that's a, that was perfect, man. He sent me a perfect Michael Knowles. Check out his show. It is one of my podcast shelf must listen to is every single day. It's available every week at your podcast and send my best of the boys over there to daily wire. We love you, man. Thanks for coming on. We appreciate it. Dan, a pleasure to always. Thanks so much. You got it. What a great guy. And I mean a super

ridiculously nice guy in person. I mean, almost like you're like, what am I doing wrong? I got to be nicer. I'm like, it would meet me in person. I'm usually in a bad mood. I'm like the grumpy old man, Jim shaking here. Come on, you know, it's true. Not to people. I'm never mean to people ever, ever. Only one person ever, but it was for a different reason. I'm usually pretty well sometimes. All right, whatever, I better get out of the way because myself more trouble.

Thanks for listening to the podcast. Make sure you tune in to our show live every single weekday at 11 AM on rumble at rumble.com slash Bongino. It's free. Can watch it on demand at any time and give us a follow on Apple podcasts and Spotify, the damn Bongino show. We really appreciate you being here. See you on Monday.